Local candidates for county commission and school board seats were required to disclose personal financial information by June 20. The reports reveal interesting facts, including one candidate owns a $30,000 train collection, while another owes seven people promissory notes, totaling almost $100,000. Other candidates disclosed their sources of income and net worth. Only one is a millionaire.
Nearly four months after the release of the final environmental impact document relating to F-35 activities in northwest Florida, the Air Force announced June 27 it had chosen an alternative, which continues to limit F-35 operations in the Valparaiso area. However, an Eglin spokesman said he doesn’t believe the decision will have a significant impact on F-35 operations at Choctaw Field north of Navarre.
A Navarre man remains in the Santa Rosa County Jail on charges stemming from an alleged June 16 incident altercation in which he had to be forcibly detained by a Santa Rosa County Sheriff’s deputy. According to court records, 47-year-old Jerry Leion Barber faces felony charges of battery and obstructing justice and two misdemeanor charges of resisting an officer and probation violation.
The need for more revenue and more personnel took center stage June 23 at the Holley-Navarre Fire District Board of Fire Commissioners monthly meeting. Board members and firefighters weighed-in on the possibility of putting a tax referendum on the November ballot that would garner enough funding to hire three more full time employees and two supervisors for the stations. Fire Commissioners however adjourned the meeting without taking action.
A 43-year-old Gulf Breeze man was convicted June 26 on charges of kidnapping and sexual battery relating to an incident on Pensacola Beach. State Attorney Bill Eddins announced that Bret Randall May was convicted by a jury in Escambia County Circuit Court. May faces a life sentence.
If you were impacted by floodwaters from the April 29 storm, you have only until 10 p.m., July 7 to apply for disaster assistance from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). All FEMA Disaster Recovery Centers in northwest Florida have closed, but applications can still be made online at disasterassistance.gov or by calling 800-621-3362.
Florida Department of Transportation officials (FDOT) briefed the Santa Rosa County Board of Commissioners June 26 about a study of a six-mile corridor on U.S. 90 along which two proposed future courthouse sites are located. Commissioners also took action on several other matters, including approving a recycling services contract.
A $1.8 million stormwater project that is designed to make Gulf Breeze neighborhoods less vulnerable to floods started with a ceremonial groundbreaking June 25 in Williamsburg Park. The project is being funded from a settlement between the US Department of Justice and MOEX Offshore, one of the owners of the offshore oil rig that exploded, creating the Deepwater Horizon spill.
The Consumer Products Safety Commission (CPSC) reported that children under the age of five had the highest rate for fireworks related injuries in 2013. According to CPSC, past reports indicate that consumers sometimes feel comfortable handing off to children fireworks devices perceived to be less powerful, such as sparklers and bottle rockets. In 2013, sparklers and rockets accounted for more than 40 percent of all estimated injuries.
